Thomas Lucente: Facebook photo leads to government threats

Shawn Moore, a firearms instructor in New Jersey, bought his son, Josh Moore, a rifle for his 11th birthday. Innocent enough, right?

The rifle, though a replica of the AR-15, was only a .22 caliber rifle. And the boy held a valid state hunting license

Well, Moore did what people do today. He took a photograph of Josh happily holding his new rifle and shared that picture with his friends on Facebook.

That was enough to send the gun-grabbers into a tizzy. Before he knew it, the police and agents from the New Jersey Department of Youth and Family Services were knocking on his door demanding to see his guns.

Moore was not home but returned immediately after his wife called him.

He did the exact right thing. He called his attorney and told the agents to leave the home and come back with a warrant. As I tell all my family and friends, never, EVER, let the police or other government agents into your home without a valid warrant. Even if you know you have committed no crime, make them go through the process of demonstrating to a neutral magistrate that they have a valid reason to search your home.

The same holds true for your car. If a police officer asks if he or she can search your car, just say no. If they are asking, they likely do not have the requisite level of suspicion to search your car.

I am amazed by the number of people with contraband in their vehicles who consent to a police search.

But I digress.

Moore’s contact with these government agents was not a pleasant one. They tried everything to convince him to open his gun safe and let them see his guns and check their registrations. They even threatened to take his children away from him if he did not cooperate.

Moore was unpersuaded. He stood firm and they left. If they had a valid reason to conduct the search, you can be sure they would have returned that evening with a valid search warrant. They did not, though that does not mean they won’t return. However, the story has gone national and, hopefully, the agency is keeping that in mind as officials consider their next move.

What is sad is that this is not unique.

The government, especially schools, are committing acts of insanity based on some inexplicable fear of guns.

For example, in Michigan recently, a third-grader brought some cupcakes to school for his birthday, which the mother had decorated with toy soldiers. The school decided “to remove the Army soldiers from the cupcakes” and called the boy’s family to inform them that they had committed a thought crime.

Remember when we used to honor the men and women who were prepared to bring violence on others to protect the rest of society? Now their image is a thought crime.

Other recent incidents include a school suspending a boy for taking bites out of a toaster pastry in such a way that it was shaped like a gun; suspending a 7-year-old boy for pretending to throw a nonexistent grenade on the playground; suspending a 6-year-old boy in Maryland for making a gun shape with his finger; busting a 5-year-old girl in Pennsylvania for having a pink plastic gun that shoots bubbles; evacuating a school because an 11-year-old boy made a motion detector for his science experiment; kicking an 8-year-old boy out of school for a year because he had a plastic gun in his backpack; arresting a 10-year-old boy in Virginia for having a toy gun.

The list is never-ending.

Whenever I write or talk about the Second Amendment I make it clear that the right to bear arms has nothing to do with hunting or defending yourself from a criminal. The prime motivation and purpose of that right is to protect yourself against tyrannical government.

Of course, the liberals then label me crazy and paranoid for thinking the government is going to be kicking in doors.

Tell that to Mr. Moore.

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